1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a shift indicator system for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle and, more particularly, to a shift indicator system that has been integrated with a park neutral safety switch in the transmission of the vehicle.
2. Discussion
Shift indicator systems for indicating the selected gear of a transmission in motor vehicles are generally known in the automotive industry. A vehicle's driver manually operates a gear selector lever to select a desired transmission gear. Typically, the gear selector lever is mechanically connected to a shift indicator mechanism for displaying the selected gear to the driver. However, the shift indicator may also electrically determine the selected gear. These electrical shift indicator systems utilize complex circuitry and require additional components to implement within the vehicle.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved shift indicator system for electrically determining a selected gear of an automatic transmission. This shift system should be integrated into existing vehicle components to reduce the number of components, thereby reducing the cost and complexity of today's motor vehicles. By resistive multiplexing the functions in a park neutral safety switch, the number of circuits as well as packaging size of the shift indicator system can be reduced.